It's own niche, and not a bad one..A SPOILER, I guess

Rating: Null/10 (21 June 2004)

Maybe a SPOILER-- rather have you see the flick-- you should, it's at least an 8 -- and then compare your take with mine!
Trying to keep my eyes open on Monday after planning to watch "just 20 minutes and hitting the sack early" on Sunday nite...Couldn't turn it off..... Right, it's not a zombie flick, dead rising etc., but the very plausible premise of a virus-fueled extinction of an entire island nation is a wonderful excuse to explore the darker survival instincts of a variety of characters. I've turned off Romero flicks because I was "too scared" to endure the shambling corpses stalking lone victims in abandoned graveyards and lonely farmhouses.... and then returned to them to savor the horror. I stayed with this in order to see to what ends the heros would go to survive.
Does the hero turn ruthless killer in the end? No, he simply understands the rules of survival and is crafted by the author as a survivor. The heroes actually employ the rage victims against the establishment (such as it is). Is it incongruous that one lone jet-fighter appears after humanity is apparently wiped out by rage? Not really.. Why not craft a political lie to keep the infected island isolated. If Tokyo and NYC are germ free-- they won't be for long... and don't tell the army about it, hell, they've got the means and muscle to make the trip. Keep 'em isolated and let it run its course... then go back and look for survivors. Makes for a neat little survival microcosm-- like others have said, compare to "Lord of the Flies" -- how about "The Stand" (the book)?
Use this movie to delve into your deeper survival mode. Could you do what needed to be done to outlast terror and evil and survive whole? Give it an 8 for its genre-- well acted, well directed, nicely lighted and shot, believable special effects (killer of a lot of OK films), disturbing, and certainly thought provoking.